Mergers, Acquisitions , Splits & Spinoffs.......

[Deleted]

AETNA is Buying COVENTRY (CVH) for $5.7 Billion.

[The Virginian]

Deal puts 95 pct of U.S. car rentals in hands of three firms

* Hertz to sell budget brand Advantage as part of deal

* Still 30 days allowed for another bid - source

* Hertz, Dollar Thrifty shares both up premarket

By Megha Mandavia and Sakthi Prasad

Aug 27 (Reuters) - Hertz Global Holdings agreed to buy rival Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group for about $2.3 billion in a deal that puts about 95 percent of the U.S. car rental market in the hands of three companies.

The sale ends more than two years of on-off takeover talks for Dollar Thrifty involving Hertz, the No. 2. U.S. car rental company, and third-ranked Avis Group Inc that had been plagued by disagreements over price and doubts about regulatory approval.

The deal cements Hertz's position as the number two and leaves Avis far behind in third. Privately held Enterprise Holdings, with its Alamo, National and Enterprise brands, is far and away the market leader.

Shares of the Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz jumped 14 percent in premarket trade on Monday, while Dollar Thrifty shares traded up 7 percent.

Dollar Thrifty, the final big target in an industry that has consolidated rapidly, this month urged Hertz to make a compelling bid or leave it alone.

Hertz will buy Dollar Thrifty for $87.50 per share in cash, a premium of 8 percent over Dollar Thrifty's Friday closing price of $81 on the New York Stock Exchange, and almost double a $1.2 billion offer Hertz made in April 2010.

Avis could still make a further bid. The deal does not carry with Hertz has no break-up fee and Dollar Thrifty is allowed dto solicit another offer for 30 days, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Several top Dollar Thrifty shareholders told Reuters last week they would accept a takeover offer from Hertz that valued the company at more than $87 per share.

Avis' entry into the bidding in 2010 pushed up the price for Dollar Thrifty, which was at one point during the financial crisis was offered $2 per share by Hertz.

Avis withdrew its offer after it bought Avis Europe last year for about $1 billion.

"Hertz has made a compelling offer to our stockholders that reflects the strength of our business," Dollar Thrifty Chief Executive Scott Thompson said in a statement.

In a bid to win regulatory approval for the deal, Hertz has agreed to sell its budget brand, Advantage, to Franchise Services of North America and Macquarie Capital. That sale is conditional on completing the Dollar Thrifty purchase.

Hertz did not specify the sale price but Bloomberg news, quoting a person familiar with the matter, reported the unit would be sold for $16 million.

Advantage competes directly with Dollar Thrifty in the budget car rental market.

Franchise Services is headed by Sanford Miller, who was once the CEO of Budget Group Inc, which is now a part of Avis.

Hertz said late on Sunday it expects at least $160 million of annual cost savings from the transaction.

Lazard, Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank are financial advisers to Hertz, while J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are advising Dollar Thrifty.

[The Virginian]

Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:38pm EDT

* Merck to file vorapaxar with regulators in 2013

* Approval of MK-524A (tredaptive) to be filed in 2013

* Anacetrapib studies on track to be completed in 2017

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Merck & Co said on Sunday it plans to file regulatory applications for a new type of blood clot preventer next year, and will also file with regulators for approval of another cardiovascular drug in 2013.

The pharmaceutical company said in a statement that it is in discussions with regulatory agencies over vorapaxar, a drug that has been dogged by bleeding concerns since January 2011, when a safety committee overseeing a large study said the new type of anti-platelet drug was not appropriate for patients who had suffered a stroke.

It plans to file the application with regulators in the United States and Europe in 2013.

Merck said it will "seek an indication for the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with a history of heart attack" and no history of stroke.

Merck obtained vorapaxar through its $41 billion acquisition of rival Schering Plough in late 2009. At the time, it was considered to be the crown jewel of Schering Plough's drug pipeline.

Regarding a cardiovascular drug called MK-524A (tredaptive), Merck said its study is on track to be completed later this year and it plans to file for approval in the United States and the EU in 2013.

Merck said studies for anacetrapib are also on track to be completed in 2017. Oxford researchers, which are leading the study, have already enrolled 20,000 patients, in what is one of the largest cardiovascular studies ever conducted. The study started in 2011.

Merck shares closed on Friday up 31 cents at $43.12.

[The Virginian]

Aug 27 (Reuters) - Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc, a drive-through hamburger chain that could be worth more than $300 million, is being put up for sale by its private equity owner, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

The company's backer, Wellspring Capital Management, has hired North Point Advisors and Harris Williams & Co to assist with the sale, the sources said.

Wellspring declined to comment. Checker's, North Point Advisors and Harris Williams could not be reached for comment.

Tampa, Florida-based Checkers, which operates more than 800 restaurants across the United States under the Checkers and Rally's names, generates earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the mid-$30 million range, one of the sources said.

The would-be sale, which is currently in the management presentation stage with the company soliciting first round bids, is viewed as similar to the sale of Bojangle's Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits to private equity firm Advent International in 2011 for 9.5 times EBITDA.

Financial sponsors being targeted are similar to those who bid on the Bojangles deal, including Thomas H. Lee Partners, Advent and TA Associates, one of the sources said.

The private equity firms could not be reached for comment.

A wave of M&A has recently swept the restaurant sector after little consolidation within the past few years and with private equity firms looking to get out of investments they've held for upwards of five years.

Checkers is just one of several restaurant chains being shopped right now by their private equity backers. Houlihan's Restaurants and Taco Bueno are both in the market, sources have previously said. Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc announced in May that it was exploring strategic alternatives.

Recent restaurants deals that have been announced include Centerbridge's acquisition of Asian themed restaurant chain P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc for $1.1 billion in May and Benihana Inc's $296 million sale to investment adviser Angelo Gordon & Co, also in May.

[The Virginian]

Aug 30 (Reuters) - "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest and his private equity partners have opted out of the auction of Dick Clark Productions, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Seacrest, along with Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, withdrew from the bidding process after an initial round of talks and subsequent due diligence, the Journal said.

Clark, who founded the company in 1957, sold his majority stake to Mosaic Media Group in 2002. Dick Clark Productions is now owned by Red Zone Capital, the private equity firm of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

None of the parties could be reached for comment

[The Virginian]

Aug 31 (Reuters) - Elon Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc and privately held Space Exploration Technologies, is weighing whether to establish a holding company that would own stock in both companies.

Musk, answering questions at automotive website Jalopnik.com on Thursday, said capital could not be moved between publicly traded Tesla and SpaceX, but he was interested in the idea of a holding company.

"Am starting to consider whether it would make sense to create a parent corporation that would own the stock," Musk wrote. "Not sure if that is feasible or sensible, but am thinking about it."

Tesla just launched its second electric car, the Model S sedan, which is expected to provide 90 percent of the company's revenue this year. The base price of the car is $57,400.

In May, SpaceX sent the first privately developed ship into space to dock with the International Space Station.

Musk, the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark character in "Iron Man," also founded online payments site PayPal, now part of eBay. He has said in the past that an initial public offering for SpaceX may eventually happen.

Tesla has plans for the Model X crossover utility vehicle in 2014 and a smaller sedan code-named Gen III in 2015, and Musk said the company will eventually build an electric supercar.

"We will do an electric supercar at some point," he said. "But it is more important to the world that we do an affordable electric car. Hopefully, we will get to an electric supercar in four to five years."

Musk, who predicted there would eventually be electric race cars, also said he has had in mind an idea for a supersonic electric jet for about four years.

[The Virginian]

Anyone Buying AIG ? ( I don't do Insurance Companies - think they are a bunch of Crooks!)

AIA selldown of up to $2 bln comes two days after lock-up expiry

* AIG offers AIA shares at 2.1 pct discount-1.7 pct premium range

* Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs lead AIA selldown

By Elzio Barreto and Fiona Lau

HONG KONG, Sept 6 (Reuters) - American International Group Inc launched a widely-expected sale of a stake in its former Asian unit AIA, a move aimed at providing the bailed-out insurer with partial funding to repurchase up to $5 billion of its stock from the U.S. government.

AIG's sale of up to $2 billion of AIA Group Ltd shares comes two days after a lock-up period expired, but is just about a quarter of the $7.6 billion worth stake the U.S. insurer owned and could have sold. AIG had already sold $6 billion worth of AIA shares in March.

AIA, Asia's third-largest insurer, was spun out of its parent company in October 2010, when AIG Chief Executive Robert Benmosche oversaw the company's listing in Hong Kong after a failed takeover offer from Prudential Plc.

With the latest sale, AIG will pocket $28.5 billion through its stake reductions in AIA, including a $20.5 billion initial public offering two years ago. Since the listing, AIA's shares have soared about 34 percent and become a top choice of fund managers looking to benefit from growing wealth in Asia and booming demand for insurance and other financial products.

AIG is offering about 600 million shares in a range of HK$25.75 to HK$26.75 each, equivalent to a discount of 2.1 percent and a premium of 1.7 percent to AIA's Thursday close of HK$26.3 ($3.39), a term sheet of the deal showed. It is restricted from selling the remaining $5.6 billion stake for three months, the term sheet showed.

The partial sale of its AIA stake surprised some Hong Kong bankers and investors, who expected the company to dispose of its entire stake. It was also unusual for AIG to offer the shares at a premium, when block trades normally come at a discount to attract investors to the offer.

"This is a very strange block sale, because they're selling the shares at a premium," said Kenneth Yue, an analyst at CCB International in Hong Kong. "At the end of the day, this is small compared to AIG's overall holding, and so it doesn't remove much of the overhang."

Benmosche said in May AIG would sell its shares in AIA in September, once the lockup expired, but early in August he told an analyst conference call AIG was looking for the right time and the right price to sell the stake.

AIA has built a sprawling and successful business across the region, with an army of hundreds of thousands of agents. In July it reported better-than-expected first-half results, with net profit climbing 10 percent to $1.44 billion.

ASIA DEAL SLUMP

The AIA transaction comes amid a slump in equity deals in Asia-Pacific, where volumes so far in 2012 are down 33 percent to $98.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. Deal-starved bankers in Hong Kong jostled for a role in the AIA sale, looking for a boost to their league table rankings.

Since a 2008 bailout that swelled to $182 billion, AIG has worked to shed business units and pay back the U.S. government, while federal officials overseeing the arrangement have sold down its own stake in the insurer.

The U.S. Treasury in August reduced its stake in AIG to 55 percent by selling nearly $6 billion worth of shares for $30.50 per share. AIG is up sharply since then, with the stock closing at $34.81 on Wednesday.

AIG at the time said it would buy back $3 billion of its shares, but on Thursday said it would buy back up to $5 billion.

Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs were hired to jointly manage the $2 billion block sale, the term sheet showed.

[The Virginian]

Deal a play on rising crude prices

* PXP shares down 5.7 percent; BP edges higher

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Plains Exploration & Production Co said on Monday that it would buy BP Plc's stake in some deepwater Gulf of Mexico wells for $5.55 billion to boost its oil production.

Plains Exploration, better known by the PXP stock exchange symbol, has been cutting its exposure to natural gas, whose prices have plunged to decade lows. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, are hovering near $100 per barrel.

BP said in May that it expected to raise $38 billion from assets sales between 2010 and 2013 to pay for damages from the 2010 oil spill.

The amount BP will have to pay in damages for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is still in dispute, but it could reach up to $21 billion.

PXP, whose shares fell nearly 6 percent, is buying London-based BP's 100 percent stake in the Marlin, Dorado and King and Horn Mountain fields and said it would also pay $560 million to acquire the remaining 50 percent working interest in the Holstein Field from Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

PXP will also get BP's 33.33 percent working interest in the Diana-Hoover Field, which is operated by ExxonMobil Corp , and BP's 31 percent stake in the Ram Powell field, which is operated by Shell Offshore Inc.

The properties that Houston-based PXP is acquiring were producing an estimated 59,500 barrels of oil equivalent net per day at the end of July.

PXP sold natural gas assets in Texas for $785 million last November.

The deal follows a Reuters report on Sunday that said BP was in talks to sell some of its Gulf of Mexico oil fields to PXP. The report cited a person familiar with the matter.

Shares of PXP fell 5.7 percent to $38 in premarket trading. In London, BP rose 0.6 percent to 437.1 pence.

[The Virginian]

Campbell Soup to close 2 plants, cut some jobs

AP


CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Campbell Soup plans to close two U.S. plants, eliminating more than 700 jobs, as it looks to trim costs and become more competitive.

The soup maker said Thursday that it will close a plant in Sacramento, Calif., that has about 700 full-time workers. It also plans to shutter a spice plant in South Plainfield, N.J., that has 27 employees.

The California plant is expected to close by July 2013, while the New Jersey plant is anticipated to close by March 2013.

Campbell Soup Co. currently has about 19,900 employees globally.

The Camden, N.J.-based company expects the closings to result in about $115 million in pre-tax costs. Its actions will also require approximately $27 million in capital spending.

Annual savings are predicted to be about $30 million starting in fiscal 2016.

[The Virginian]

Reuters) - Activist investor William Ackman pressed for Procter & Gamble Co Chairman and Chief Executive Robert McDonald to be stripped of both roles in a meeting earlier this month attended by two directors and McDonald himself, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Wednesday.

Ackman made clear his disapproval of McDonald's leadership in the Sept. 4 meeting that was attended by board members James McNerney, CEO of Boeing Co, and Kenneth Chenault, CEO of American Express Co, the paper said.

Though the board has not taken any action since the meeting, McDonald's job could be at risk if the cost-cutting initiatives he has announced do not deliver results, the Journal said, citing two people familiar with the board's approach to the issue.

P&G, whose brands include Pampers, Gillette and Tide, is in the midst of a $10 billion restructuring. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital LP bought roughly $1.8 billion worth of its stock this summer, giving him a holding of about 1 percent.

P&G could not be immediately reached for comment outside of regular business hours.

[The Virginian]

** Dean Foods Co confirmed on Wednesday that it is weighing a sale of its Morningstar division, in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion and lead to a break-up of the largest dairy company in the United States.

[The Virginian]

** 3M Co reached an $860 million deal to buy Ceradyne Inc, a maker of advanced technical ceramics, in what is set to be the diversified U.S. manufacturer's largest acquisition since Inge Thulin took over as chief executive in February

[The Virginian]

** Electric and natural gas utility Integrys Energy Group Inc will buy privately held Fox Energy Co LLC for $440 million to add a 593 megawatt power generating plant in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.

[ModE98]

Mr. V ..... MMM has to be one of my old favorites. Have held and sold several times. In reflection, should have held over the last 35 years when I first had a few shares. Smart thing would have been to add when several good dips occurred over those years. Would love to be sitting with a few thousand shares.

They have made a number of very good, accretive acquisitions over time. A good, solid company.

[The Virginian]

I don't own MMM ---- Yet ----- but will someday. I guess as I keep growing all DOW 30 stocks will be in my portfolio ( God willing and the creek doesn't rise) ;D

[The Virginian]

I hope this split is as successful as COP and PSX was. !
;D

* Mondelez has $36 bln revenues, 100,000 employees

* Sees busy consumers shifting from three fixed meals

* Unemployment hits gum sales

* Benefits from Kraft split to be evident in first year

* Mondelez able to pass on commodity prices to consumers

By Emma Thomasson

ZURICH, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Mondelez International Inc , which ranks as the world's biggest chocolate, candy and biscuit maker after being carved out of Kraft Foods Inc , is optimistic busy consumers will keep driving booming demand for snacks despite the downturn.

Mondelez, whose stable of brands includes Cadbury and Milka chocolate, was launched on Tuesday after a demerger from Kraft's North American grocery business, still called Kraft.

Creation of the two entities gives investors the option to either bet on fast-growing snacks or the more stable dividends offered by groceries.

"There is no question these are very challenging times for us in Europe ... The good news is people must eat and drink," Tim Cofer, head of Mondelez Europe, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Snacking categories are growing faster than non-snacking categories," Cofer said. "We see consumers increasingly having busy lifestyles and evolving over time from three fixed meals to many meals, or snacking in between when they don't have time for a fixed meal."

Mondelez, which also takes in Jacobs coffee, Trident gum, LU and Oreo biscuits, has annual revenue of about $36 billion - more than a third from Europe - and about 100,000 employees in more than 80 countries.


Cofer said Mondelez had taken action to address a poor performance in the gum business, which is particularly exposed to the downturn and rising unemployment given people tend to chew gum while at work, or on their way to work.

"Given the current economic environment, particularly in southern Europe, where unemployment and youth unemployment is high, we do see an impact," he said. "Having said that, I do feel very good about our innovation pipeline in gum," such as a breath-freshening version.

Kraft has said extra costs associated with the demerger will hurt earnings in the near term, but it forecasts long-term earnings-per-share growth in the double digits for Mondelez and in the mid-to-high single digits for Kraft.

"We feel very good about our prospects to deliver on that long-term guidance," said Cofer, who is based in at Mondelez's European headquarters in Zurich.

"The benefits associated with the split certainly outweigh the costs ... The benefits will be evident from year one."

Kraft warned last month that 2013 earnings for Mondelez - to be headed by Kraft Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld - would likely be lower than some forecasts due to the weakening of various currencies versus the U.S. dollar.

Cofer said Mondelez was well positioned to cope with volatile commodity prices but declined to give an outlook for those markets.

"We have proven over the last couple of years our ability to pass on those higher costs in order to retain good margins," he said. "We have robust risk management structures to manage the volatility and to ensure margin."

[Driftr]

Oct 2, 2012 7:49:22 GMT -5 The Virginian said:

I don't own MMM ---- Yet ----- but will someday. I guess as I keep growing all DOW 30 stocks will be in my portfolio ( God willing and the creek doesn't rise) ;D

Kraft got dropped from DOW as a result of this spin-off. Replaced by United Health and their 1.5% dividend yield. Bleh...

[clarkrl2]

Another index change to occur this week as a result of an aquisiton. SUN is being acquired by Energy Transfer Partners LP and will be removed from the S&P 500. PetSmart (PETM) will replace SUN in the S&P 500. Cabelas will replace PETM in the S&P 400 and Acorda Theraputics will replace Cabelas in the S&P 600. money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20121001&id=15622118

CAB = Cabelas
ACOR = Acorda

[The Virginian]

PetSmart (PETM) will replace SUN in the S&P 500.

Maybe it could be one of the "Dogs of the DOW" ;D

[ModE98]

WOOF!!

[ModE98]

www.nasdaq.com/article/mesa-energy-and-armada-oil-execute-letter-of-intent-for-business-combination-20121003-01133

(also posted under "Oil & Nat Gas......")

[The Virginian]

Stanley Black & Decker selling unit for $1.4B
AP


NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — Tool maker Stanley Black & Decker Inc. is selling its hardware and home improvement business to Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. for $1.4 billion in cash.

The hardware and home improvement unit makes locksets, hardware and faucets for residential use and includes brands such as Pfister, Baldwin and Kwikset.

The deal announced Tuesday also includes certain assets of Taiwan's Tong Lung Metal Industry Co., which makes residential and commercial locksets.

Spectrum Brands, based in Madison, Wis., said that the acquisition will broaden its product offerings which include the Rayovac, Remington and Toastmaster brands.

Stanley Black & Decker, which is based in New Britain Conn., says the sale is part of its ongoing strategy to diversify its revenue and geographic reach. The hardware and home improvement unit gets 90 percent of its revenue from North America and more than 50 percent of its revenue from U.S. home improvement stores.

Both companies' boards have approved the transaction.

Stanley Black & Decker anticipates the transaction will result in $1.3 billion in proceeds after taxes. It plans to use a majority of the proceeds to buy back shares and a smaller portion to reduce debt. The remaining proceeds, along with offshore capital, will be used to pay for its previously announced acquisition of Infastech.

Stanley Black & Decker says that the deal with Spectrum is not expected to change its financial outlook for 2012.

Spectrum says the acquisition of the hardware and home improvement business should add 75 cents to 80 cents per share in fiscal 2013 and add more than $1 per share in fiscal 2014, excluding one-time transaction and integration costs.

The hardware and home improvement business will operate as a separate unit once the deal closes, which is expected during Spectrum's first quarter in fiscal 2013.

It will be run by Greg Gluchowski, who currently serves as the unit's president at Stanley Black & Decker. Gluchowski will report to Spectrum CEO David Lumley.

The Tong Lung buyout is anticipated to close in the second quarter.

[The Virginian]

Below is part of an article from Jim Cramer - I know; No One likes Jim Cramer and I agree - He is more showman that Investor - But.... the real news here is the fact that he is pointing out that JNJ is likely to split off into different companies which seems to be a fad right now. I own JNJ and I am seeing an opportunity to make money and the company spins off into different companies!

I got a great call Monday night on ‘Mad Money’ from an 80-year-old woman whose situation pretty much crystalizes what's going on right now in this market. She has CDs rolling over now that pay 5%. She knows that the current CDs won't give her more than 1% at best.



So, she wanted my blessing to buy Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 0.00%) and I said yes, because I liked the yield, the balance sheet, the new management and the breakup value.


Now, at no other point in history that I have seen would you ever suggest an 80-year-old woman use JNJ as a replacement for a CD. Never. Sure, on an after-tax basis the 3.5% yield that JNJ gives you is so much better than the current CD. And JNJ is perhaps among the top ten trusted brands in the world, even after the production issues have dogged it so badly. It doesn't have the earnings power you would like to see, but it is pretty darned clear that if you broke the company up it would be worth substantially in excess of its current value.



But still, this question represents the desperate shape of investors everywhere who seek a fixed income replacement. Johnson & Johnson only has to go down $2.50 to make it so the CD alternative is better for this woman, and that could happen in a blink of a high-frequency trader's eye.



Yet, somehow I think it is reckless to keep her in CDs.

[ModE98]

Monday, October 15, 9:29 AM Crop-nutrients maker Yongye International (YONG) up 18.4% premarket on CEO Zishen Wu's plans to take the company private at $6.60/share - a 38% premium to Friday's close that values the company at $334M.

[The Virginian]

Wed Oct 17, 2012 3:44pm EDT


* Exxon to pay C$24.50 for each share of Celtic
* Deal gives Exxon vast tracts of shale assets in Canada
* Offer is a 35 pct premium to Celtic's close on Tuesday
* Celtic shares up 45 pct, Exxon's at highest since 2008
By Scott Haggett
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp
agreed to buy Celtic Exploration Ltd for C$2.6
billion ($2.64 billion), in a deal to raise its presence in some
of Western Canada's most promising shale oil and gas regions.
The transaction, announced Wednesday, will give Exxon vast
tracts in the liquids-rich Montney shale gas region in
northeastern British Columbia. It will join other world-scale
energy companies looking to tap Montney's massive reserves to
feed planned liquefied natural gas plants planned for province's
Pacific coast.
It will also gain a stake in Alberta's promising Duvernay
shale play, an early stage development where peers such as
Chevron Corp and ConocoPhillips have already
taken big stakes.
Exxon and other global oil majors are buying oil and gas
assets in North America as they struggle to boost output in a
sector where vast energy resources are tightly controlled by
countries like Brazil and Russia.
Exxon Mobil started a big push into in unconventional
resources like shale with its 2010 purchase of XTO Energy. Since
then, Exxon has steadily added shale gas and shale oil reserves
in North America as it works to boost production.
"This acquisition will add significant liquids-rich
resources to our existing North American unconventional
portfolio," Andrew Barry, president of ExxonMobil Canada, said
in a statement.
In September, Exxon agreed to buy Denbury Resources Inc's
crude oil properties in the Bakken shale for $1.6
billion.
Since it was formed in 2002, Celtic, led by Chief Executive
David Wilson, has focused on finding liquids-rich gas reserves
that fetch a premium compared with dry natural gas and on
acquiring lands in the most promising of Canada's shale regions.
The Montney region of British Columbia has 450 trillion
cubic feet of gas in place, according the province's government,
though only a fraction of that could be recovered using the
hydraulic fracturing techniques that transformed oil and gas
production elsewhere in North America.
The Duvernay shales, a 50,000 square-kilometer (19,300
square-mile) region stretching down the Rocky Mountain foothills
of central Alberta, is estimated by some analysts to contain
more than 750 tcf of liquids-rich gas, enough to support the
ambitions of the world's largest oil companies.
"It fits the bill for a company like Exxon," said Matthew
Taylor, an analyst with National Bank Financial.
Celtic's "management team is known for its exploration
expertise and they took it to the level where a major (oil
company) can now step in and basically go into gas manufacturing
mode," he said.
Exxon said its Canadian subsidiary, ExxonMobil Canada, will
pay C$24.50 for each share of Celtic, a 35 percent premium to
Celtic's closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday
but below its 52-week high of C$27.08.
And for each common share tendered, Celtic shareholders will
also receive half a share in a new spin-off company led by
Celtic's current management team. The value of the new firm has
yet to be determined..
"As the dust settles around this transaction and (Celtic)
gets out there and talks a bit more about it, we'll see where it
trades," Taylor said. "You would expect a spinco with this
caliber of management to garner a premium."
The new company will house a gas property at Grand Cache,
Alberta; a liquids-rich natural gas property at Inga, British
Columbia; and an oil prospect at Karr, Alberta.
Exxon's bid is the latest in a wave of takeovers in the
energy rich provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, where the
bulk of Celtic's assets are located.
The Canadian government is currently reviewing a C$15.1
billion bid by Chinese state-owned oil major CNOOC Ltd
for Nexen Inc <NXY.TO, as well as a C$5.2 billion bid by
Malaysian state oil company Petronas for Progress
Energy Resources Corp as it also looks for a foothold
in the Montney region.
Exxon said that Imperial Oil Ltd, its 70 percent
owned Canadian affiliate, is not participating in the
acquisition but has the option to take a half interest in the
Celtic properties.
Imperial said earlier this year it was examining the
potential of developing an LNG plant that could ship gas from
northeastern British Columbia to Asian markets.
Celtic shares were up C$8.16, or 45 percent, to C$26.28 by
late afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange while Exxon shares
climbed 87 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $93.25 in New York after
earlier touching $93.54, their highest since May 2008.
Shares of other Canadian companies with Western Canadian
shale gas holdings also rose. Paramount Resources Ltd
was up C$2.34, or 7.4 percent, to C$33.93 in Toronto, while
Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd gained 68 Canadian cents, or
6.1 percent, to C$11.40 on the TSX Venture Exchange.
With the acquisition, Exxon will add 545,000 acres of
exploration lands in the Montney region and 104,000 acres of
Duvernay properties that Celtic estimates contain 128 million
barrels of oil equivalent of proved and probable reserves,
three-quarters of which are natural gas.
Celtic produces 72 million cubic feet of gas per day and
4,000 barrels per day of oil and natural gas liquids.
Including payments for Celtic's convertible debentures, and
Celtic's bank debt and working capital obligations, the deal is
valued at C$3.1 billion, Celtic said in a statement.
The deal has been unanimously approved by Celtic's board of
directors.

[Deleted]

MUR - Murphy Oil -
Has announced a Special Dividend In addition to it's Regular Dividend - The X Date for both of these is November 14th 2012.

This is tied to the Announcement From MUR - That it is Splitting It's Business. It already has Board Approval and Pending other customary Nods- it Expects this Spin Off to happen sometime in Mid 2013.

Terms on the Amount of Shares of the New Business the Spin Off will Create, have not as of Yet been Formalized.

[The Virginian]

Oct 22 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc said it would buy privately held-NextWave Pharmaceuticals for $255 million, gaining access to the company's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug, the first once-daily liquid medicine approved to treat the condition in the United States.

NextWave's shareholders would also be eligible to get up to $425 million based on certain sales milestones.

Pfizer said it was exercising its option to acquire NextWave under an agreement signed in the second quarter, under which it had made an option payment of $20 million.

The drug, Quillivant XR, is expected to be available in pharmacies by early next year.

[The Virginian]

Nov 27 (Reuters) - ConAgra Foods said it will acquire Ralcorp Holdings Inc for about $5 billion to boost its presence in the private label food market.

Ralcorp shareholders will get $90 per share in cash, representing a premium of 28.2 percent to the stock's Monday close.

Ralcorp last year rejected several ConAgra offers, including a final $94 per share bid, and chose instead to spin off its Post cereal business.

[The Virginian]

The U.S. oil and natural gas company said Tuesday that the unit it is selling, ConocoPhillips Algeria Ltd, holds interests in three major onshore oil fields with average net production of 11,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. ConocoPhillips said the net carrying value of the Algerian assets was about $850 million at the end of October.

The proposed sale is subject to pre-emption rights by ConocoPhillips' partners in the fields and to Algerian government approval.

ConocoPhillips has been shedding overseas assets to cut debt and increase its investment in lower-cost domestic shale oil and gas. It has already beaten its target of asset sales worth $20 billion by the end of 2012, including the sale of its stake in Lukoil, Russia's second-biggest oil producer.

The company expects the deal to be completed by mid-2013.

Shares of ConocoPhillips closed at $58.28 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

[The Virginian]

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Looks like Shamu may soon be making a splash in the stock market.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. on Thursday filed for an initial public offering of stock that could raise $100 million.

That number is likely to change as the company's bankers gauge interest from investors.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, which owns SeaWorld, will likely sell some of its stake in the deal, but will still own a majority of the voting power of the company's shares after the IPO, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Blackstone bought SeaWorld from beer brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2009 in a deal worth at least $2.3 billion.

The Orlando, Fla., company plans to use money from the IPO to pay debt and make a payment to Blackstone.

It did not list a date for the offering. The company also did not say how many shares would be sold, or for how much.

The three SeaWorld theme parks are known for water shows featuring orca whales, dolphins and other animals. The company has eight other properties, including two Busch Gardens parks and Sesame Place, which is based on the children's TV show Sesame Street.

SeaWorld said about 24 million people went to its parks in the 12 months through Sept. 30.

In the first nine months of this year, it earned $86.2 million, up 73 percent from $50 million in the same months a year ago. Revenue rose 7.6 percent to $1.16 billion.

SeaWorld plans to use the "SEAS" symbol for its stock, but did not say on which exchange it plans to trade.